NASA's New Special Addition

December 2, 2019: What happens when you bring an Air Force guy to NASA? Answer: you get the next Associate Administrator for Human Exploration & Operations. It was a privilege and honor to see Doug Loverro being sworn into this position by former Congressman and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. During the swearing in, we were able to go back to 1969 and witness Apollo 11 land on the moon in the background. The audience was grinning from ear to ear as we got to watch Mr. Loverro's granddaughters "pin on" his NASA pins. One pin had the NASA logo while the other presented the number 1856. What does the number 1856 symbolize? The number of days until the United States launches Artemis in 2024. This pin will change daily as we get closer and closer to the launch date, so if you cross paths with Mr. Loverro and the number on the pin is wrong, he will buy you lunch!

After working on projects that revolved around the topic of space for almost his entire career, Mr. Loverro had some professional advice for the audience. Needless to say, his success did not come without failures. There were times he had spent years on projects that got cancelled and there were times where he had spent years on projects that were and still are successful. Failures are how we move forward and it is how we learn from these failures that we continue to succeed professionally. No matter whether something succeeds or fails, you will take great pride in your work if it is audacious, exciting, and important.

I am extremely honored that I was able to attend this ceremony at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. as a representative of Chenega IT Enterprise Services. Seeing where NASA is headed over the next couple of years will inspire the next generation of astronauts!